Did You Just Have a Drink? You Should Put Down That Pill Bottle

You already know combining alcohol and acetaminophen -- a pain reliever found in OTC drugs such as Tylenol -- can cause liver damage or even liver failure, but here's something new (and just as scary!): it could potentially harm your kidneys, too.

Research presented today at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association shows that if you drink even a small amount of booze -- just one drink per day, for women -- and then take acetaminophen, you're at a higher risk for kidney dysfunction.

And that's not good because when kidney function is inhibited in any way, "it may lead to a number of things like fluid retention, electrolyte disturbance and hypertension," lead researcher Harrison Ndetan, Ph.D., told SELF.

But enough with the fear factor, there's good news here, too: You have total control over this situation. All you have to do is simply never combine acetaminophen with alcohol. (And no, we don't care how bad that headache is!) In fact, it's probably safest not to take any kind of painkiller if you've also been drinking.

But if you really need pain relief and you've only had one or two drinks, it shouldn't be dangerous to take ibuprofen or aspirin -- as long as you follow the label instructions. (FYI: Both Advil (which contains ibuprofen) and Bayer Aspirin warn against combining with three or more cocktails per day.) And definitely don't make a habit of it!